Yin THE EVOLUTION OF THEOLOGY 355 



praises of kindliness already cited and the cry of 

 " I arn pure/' which is repeated by the soul on 

 trial. Moreover, there is a minuteness of detail in 

 the confession which shows no little delicacy of 

 moral appreciation " I have not privily done evil 

 against mankind/' "I have not afflicted men," 

 " I have not withheld milk from the mouths of 

 sucklings," " I have not been idle," " I have not 

 played the hypocrite/' " I have not told falsehoods/' 

 " I have not corrupted woman or man," " I have 

 not caused fear," " I have not multiplied words in 

 speaking." 



Would that the moral sense of the nineteenth 

 century A.D. were as far advanced as that of the 

 Egyptians in the nineteenth century B.C. in this 

 last particular ! What incalculable benefit to man- 

 kind would flow from strict observance of the 

 commandment, " Thou shalt not multiply words in 

 speaking!" Nothing is more remarkable than 

 the stress which the old Egyptians, here and else- 

 where, lay upon this and other kinds of truthful- 

 ness, as compared with the absence of any such 

 requirement in the Israelitic Decalogue, in which 

 only a specific kind of untruthfulnes is forbidden. 



If, as the story runs, Moses was adopted by a 

 princess of the royal house, and was instructed in 

 all the wisdom of the Egyptians, it is surely in- 

 credible that he should not have been familiar 

 from his youth up, with the high moral code 

 implied in the " Book of Redemption.' 1 It is 



